Babel
The nominees: Guillermo Arriaga
Previous nominations: First
Other notable previous work: Amores perros and 21 Grams (both directed by Babel director Alejandro González Iñárritu) and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.
Guillermo has done better in both Amores perros and 21 Grams. But his work here is solid and he was already very deserving of […]

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Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
The nominees: Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Peter Baynham, Dan Maze and Todd Phillips
Previous nominations: Not one between the five of them.
Other notable previous work: The Ali G show, of course. Todd Philips is also the director of Old School and Starsky & […]

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Jennifer Hudson
Nominated for: Her turn as a great singer relegated to the background due to the way she looked in Dreamgirls.Previous nominations: First role ever.
Other notable previous work: She lost the third season of American Idol.
The total newcomer with the once in a lifetime role. Hudson might never be able to get a […]

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Forest Whitaker
Nominated for: His turn as the brutal dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland.
Previous nominations: First nomination.
Other notable previous work: The title characters in Clint Eastwood’s Bird and in Jim Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai. Also, a supporting role in Battlefield Earth, which is notable […]

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Alan Arkin
Nominated for: His portrayal of a potty mouthed, heroin addicted grandfather in Little Miss Sunshine.
Previously nominated for: The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming , where he played a Soviet submariner, and for The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, where he played a deaf-mute. Other notable previous work: Played Captain Yossarian in […]

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The royal family is a weird and fascinating institution. So obviously anachronistic in a modern society and so obviously lacking any real power. And yet it behaves as if it still had power, and all kinds of ceremonies are followed to maintain an illusion of power, not only by the royals but also by important […]

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Helen Mirren
Nominated for: Her uncanny turn as Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen.
Previous nominations: Two for best actress in a supporting role for The Madness of King George   and Gosford Park.
Other notable previous work: I feel that I have to mention she was in Caligula (yes, that one). Besides that she […]

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As I was watching Little Miss Sunshine I kept going back and forth between thinking it was a very good movie and thinking it was a mediocre one. I would see a scene that was both funny and insightful and be enchanted. But then there would come a clunky scene and I would reevaluate how […]

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Ghost Rider took $51.5 million on it's first four days of release. So, if you were wondering whether comic book movies were still going strong, the answer is a resounding yes.
And I have to say, I'm surprised. Ghost Rider looked to me like the text book case of chasing a […]

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The performance of Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin is at the center of The Last King of Scotland. He is not the lead character, but his presence is so strong it occupies our minds even when he is not in the scene. It’s this performance that gives the movie it’s meaning, it’s emotional resonance, […]

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